You’ve probably heard this one before: back during the dawn of motion pictures, a short movie showing a train heading for the camera caused audiences to freak out and try to run from the theater. It’s a funny anecdote about how much of an impact film made – and it makes those audiences look pretty […]
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The five years in Chicago when movies were forbidden
from Exhibitors Herald,via Wikimedia Commons Today, we learned about a truly bizarre moment in film history that we want to share. For as often as you hear people (usually wrongly) claiming censorship of media, you’ve never lived through anything like the reign of Major M.L.C. Funkhouser, film censor of the city of Chicago. As The […]
Continue readingA rough early road for the Irish in film
Still from Whom the Gods Destroy via “Unsung Divas of the Silent Screen” While St. Patrick’s Day is now a generally beloved holiday (we’re going to grab Shamrock Shakes in a moment), it’s easy to forget that much of the world was inhospitable to the Irish a century ago. The hostile attitudes toward the Irish […]
Continue readingYour new podcast recommendation: You Must Remember This
Via our collections coordinator Molly Hubbs, we have a podcast recommendation for wonky film history types. You Must Remember This is a weekly hour-long program about secret tales from the classic film era. Every season, host Karina Longworth covers one major topic of Hollywood history across a dozen or so episodes. Earlier this year she […]
Continue readingMust-see animation: Bayeux Tapestry (2009)
A simple concept done to perfection. The Battle of Hastings as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry with sound effects. link The producers, Potion Graphics, also came up with this entertaining short, Fear with Alfred Hitchcock.
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